Well, as our season is all but over in terms of either a protracted cup run and the possibility of making the play-offs, I thought I'd give a little bit of an overview from my perspective.

To start with, my view on this year was, from the outset, one of lets just try and enjoy it. But let us start with our recruitment for 2013 as well as an overview of RL recruitment in general as I think there's a few on here who don't fully understand the ins and outs.

Given how late in the day we came out of administration, our recruitment was never going to set the world on fire. As, I assume most people know this, recruitment begins round about this time of year. Yes, there's an anti tamper deadline, however the harsh reality of it is that a player's agent knows his client is OOC at the end of the year and it's his job to make sure he gets a new deal. Most will contact clubs at the start of the year and say "I've got X, Y and Z on my books who might be open to a move for next season." The clubs look at that and give the agent an idea on what they'd be willing to offer the player should he move to the club. So even if that player doesn't want to move clubs, he and his agent still have the bargaining position of being able to say he could get so many £££ or what have you.

As for the clubs, they tend to tell OOC players round about now if there's a deal on the table for them or if they should start looking at a move. You can see this in certain players and how their form can dip round about June/July as their clubs have told them they will not be playing there the following year.

So, with all that in mind, back to the Bulls recruitment and how administration affected it. TBH, we were buggered like an altar boy locked in a room with a priest. We couldn't offer new deals as the RFL refused to recognize the validity of new contracts offered by the Bulls. Case in point, Whitehead's extended deal wasn't confirmed until after the club had been bought. We couldn't even put out feelers to players on the strength of maybe getting the club sold as there was a great deal of uncertainty over the future of this once proud club. Cummins was left with the unenviable task of picking up the pieces of what seemed like the shoots of renewal that were sprouting under Potter but were cruelly trampled by the steel-toed boots of administration.

Cummins seemed determined to start cutting away at the dead wood at the club, something many on here have been calling for for some time. Even though it left us short of additional players, he allowed players such as Briggs and Southernwood to leave for Championship clubs even though this would, and has, left us short for cover at half back, Pryce and Ainscough two other SL experienced players were shown the door, Joseph, even though he only had sporadic appearances the previous year, you might have thought would be retained given the losses of Hargreaves, Burgess and Kopczak but no he was also waved goodbye.

Adding to the uphill struggle of recruitment was the slashing of Sky money for Bradford, forcing the club to look elsewhere to shore up the shortfall. As you'll see if you visit the stadium, if there's a flat surface it's sold as advertising space. TBH, I think if you stand still for too long at Odsal YOU'LL be used to hang advertising on. But anyway, Cummins has brought in some solid, if not spectacular players in his first year. Although these players are on loan, there is some talk of them being retained as permanent members of the team. But it's what Cummins does in this off-season and who he brings in that will truly show where the club is and what they feel is achievable.

I think the way the Bulls came firing out of the blocks this year has given people rose tinted glasses as to what this current crop of players is capable of. Fully fit, without any bust ups behind the scenes then we seem to able to punch above our weight. But as the year's gone on, we've had individual players having dips in form as well as a seeming failure to even be able to do the basics right. Our paper thin squad has been hit by injuries both slight and major and I'm sure there's more than one player being picked each week that, if we had a bigger squad, would have been rested to ensure any injury was 100% healed before going back out onto the field. But we do not have that luxury this option as things stand.

There are promising noises coming from the club in terms of backroom recruitment. No doubt Cummins feels that the small coaching team that's presided over the club over the last 8 years or so of failure is not adequate and you would be hard pressed to say he's wrong on that count.

So let's move onto our coach. Although there are some comparisons to the last British coach we had, there are a number of differences. For one, McNamara did not have the apprenticeship as a coach that Cummins has had. Cummins spent 5 years as assistant at Leeds during what could be seen as one of the Rhino's brightest periods in terms of success. Cummins was also recommended for the role by the outgoing coach, Mick Potter. A coach who I'm sure many would agree was good for the Bulls. Whereas McNamara's coaching pedigree was about 2 years in charge of the academy team. There is a case for saying he pretty much undermined Noble, though how culpable he was in that is had to say, but Noble was pretty much shown the door by the club he had brought so much success to in favour of an unknown element, at least in terms of being a first team coach.

We went backwards for the 4 years McNamara was head coach at Odsal. The two years of rebuilding under Mick Potter were thrown out of the window by administration. The long road of rebuilding the club was probably double in length by that dark period and though it's painful to watch as fans, we have to stand by the club as it struggles it's way back up the hill. TBH, those who bemoan the lack of on field success and talk of not returning are quite myopic as what the club needs now, more than ever, is the fans to come together and keep turning out for the club. Even if the club isn't currently delivering. Birth is painful, this rebirth of the club is no exception.

So, in conclusion, keep going Bulls fans. If you stop running, the Bulls stop running and no-one wants that.

Some great points there Roofaldo. I certainly agree with the majority of your post.

However, all I will add is that I did not expect miracles this season. Even when we were doing well I was still claiming we were fighting with the two Hull clubs to complete the 8. I never felt we would finish higher than 8th or 9th with that prediction.

As it stands though, we DID survive and we entered the season, admittedly with sanctions, but I am sure the club felt we could offer SL a competitive, if unspectacular side.

We don't have that though. From what I have seen, again, nowhere near as much as most, if not all on here, we have gone far backwards. We knew we were in for a long hard season but too often we have solely been responsible for our own failings both on and off the field. We cannot seem to do the simple basics like kick well, tackle well and retain the ball with consistency. We cannot hold on to leads and deep down we all know that we will let teams back into the game at some point, rather than building on a lead, or, simply maintaining a lead.

At the moment we offer little to Super League and unless we start improving in all areas soon, we might not even be in SL in the next couple of years.

Some refreshingly intelligent and dispassionate comments from the above 2 posters.
We have become a group of individual players without direction or motivation on the field.
We do not have a "guiding mind" player capable of deciding on the field the tactics to be used, nor a key player with the skills to put these into effect.
We do not have a defensive organiser pushing, pulling, kicking players into the right positions
We do not have a forward of authority who can encourage, cajole or kick the s of his fellow forwards

Until this happens we will remain a team of rudderless players who are far better individually that their sum.

We are crying out for a Graeme Bradley type player or a Peter Fox type coach or assistant to Franny.We need somebody who commands respect, it seems there is no obvious leader on or off the pitch

I'm old enough to remember a very young Brian Noble playing against Hudds at Fartown,might of been his debut,I was a young lad stood at pitch level and there was a very vocal and sometimes very aggressive Neil Fox guiding Noble and telling him what to do.That is exactly what we need now

Carvell's been around the block a bit and may be the pack leader we're missing.

Glenn Morrison would be an Ideal assistant coach. He was well respected as a player.

Some very good points made above.What I would say is that the good start made to the season was in totally different conditions,once the hard grounds came its about SPEED/PACE,if you ain't got that you lose 9 times out of 10.
The BULLS need PACE out wide and a thinking Half Back with guile and leadership qualities.Oh for a Nigel Stevenson/Barry Seabourne or a John Woods.Once you have those in place the rest you can build around and you might even find present players playing ABOVE themselves.The pack is not the best in the league but its better than many when playing to the right tune.Also bring in some experience at coaching level either to replace or assist FC,too much is asked of a rooky coach with no cash and a threadbare squad imo.I wish we could have nabbed Ratchford or Holdsworth from Salford when they became available,anyway its too late now.What about Horne from Hull?Is he signed up for next year?Anyway they need to gamble a bit and let the BOD get their wallets out as it now looks as though they needed Elliots transfer cash before being able to land carvell--cheers Ellioticon_smile.gifTo sell tickets they need to wet the fans appetites for next year so time to put up I WOULD SAY FOR GS and OK.
The honeymoons over.

Carvell was signed before the Elliot Whitehead situation.

However. The EW cash generated from the Transfer of EW will be given to Francis Cummins in addition to what he currently has at his disposal.

Never though we would set the world on fire, just wish we could do the basics well .

Agree though we do miss some serious direction around the field, a leading forward and a HB who orders the team about, we seem rudderless as been said before.

But why would be give up being the head coach of a club to come be 2nd fiddle to someone else?

Well the signing of Carvell seems to be a good start for the building of next year's squad. Hopefully we can keep hold of Evans, but I think Wire will want him back given the players they're likely to be losing at the end of this year. But 5 props will give us at least the option of rotation and cover for injuries.

Next on the shopping list I feel is a replacement for Lulia. Also I think we should be looking for someone to organise the team on the field as I don't think that either L'Estrange or Diskin have it in their nal to be able to pull the strings of the side.

It's a tough one this - with no money we can have no expectations, and with no expectations we will bring in no money = club goes backwards.

Its a bit like the economy in this country at the moment. If nobody takes a punt and gambles, nothing will move forward at all.

The fact is that last year this club survived because of the good will of the fans and staff, including the players. A camerarderie built and that good will built as the season started and things went quite well. The problem is that goodwill only takes you so far.

The alarm bells started ringing for me when Gerry Sutcliffe gave his predictions for the number of season tickets we were aiming for. I think we sold about half of that! They continued to sound loudly when the Willey woman stated that she expected a return on her investment. The bell was clanging even louder when she pulled out in such a public way, citing the behaviour of some of the club's board/employees as the reason.

It looks to me like the saviours of our club might not be all they cracked up to be. They kept it afloat, but for how long? is this club sustainable in SL, even if it goes to 24 clubs in 2 leagues?

One thing that has massively annoyed me is the number of illegal bill posters and notices pinned on lamp posts and road signs that are cropping up advertising events at Odsal. This cheapens the club and shows that infact our owners, and the people they entrust to do the publicity, have very little regard for the law, or the communities and neighbourhoods that they want to appeal to. I know this seems a petty point, but its little things like this that really annoy me and some of my friends and neighbours.

Need a bit of a reality check here. I don't think OK or GS have much cash to put into the club, they took a gamble last year - which we should be grateful for but I suspect they were hoping to see a pick up in the gates this season - whereas numbers have fallen. The squad and back office have been reduced, and some extra sponsorship brought in - so hopefully we are covering costs? - but were certainly wont be generating any cash for investment. So the challenge is to see if we can squeeze more out of limited resources, and this certainly requires someone with strong motivational skills.

I agree with this.

Regards

Gary Lineker